Brianna Reviews // Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

Published: 26^th May 2015

Publisher: MIRA Ink

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:  Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighbourhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

This wasn’t an easy book for me to read, not because it’s bad of anything, just because the theme of the book hits close to home. If I’m honest if I had read anything more about Nowhere But Here than an excerpt from Oz’s POV, I might not have read it. I considered a few times putting it down, but I couldn’t, I was hooked.

Emily reluctantly visits her Mother’s home town for the first time in order to pay her respects to her Grandmother on her biological Father’s side. She doesn’t want to be there and she doesn’t want to see her biological Father. It turns out there is a reason she’s never been to snowflake – she’s not safe there. The Riot a rival Motorcycle Club to her Father’s club Reign of Terror turn up at her motel room, she’s told that they are targeting her to get to her Father because of a business rivalry. Oz takes an instant dislike to Emily the moment she turns up, he’s doesn’t like the way she hurts the people close to him and definitely doesn’t appreciate the chaos her presence brings. Oz is ordered to stay close to her and keep her safe; there is a physical attraction between them from the start, and slowly they begin to like each other, at the same time that Emily starts to learn piece by piece that everyone has lied to her and with a little bit of help from Oz, starts to find out the truth.

I found it very easy to relate to Emily, throughout the book. From my point of view  Katie McGarry got Emily’s thoughts and feelings about Eli, Jeff and Meg spot on, especially her reluctance to be curious about Eli for fear of hurting Jeff’s feelings or seem ungrateful for everything he has done and the love he has given her. 

Despite all the confusion and hurt that Emily comes across in this book I still think the most heart breaking part though the book is watching Oz lose Olivia and trying to deal with that fact. 

I loved Oz, and if I hadn’t already I fell in love with him the way he was at the football match with the kid with Cerebral Palsy, I don’t know anything about American Football so I don’t really know what it is that Oz helps him do, but never the less it’s heart warming. I also like the way he is with Stone too, making the effort to try and boost his confidence.

I think it would have been nice to see a little bit more of Chevy, Razor and Violet throughout the book, because they obviously played a big part in Oz’s life and Emily’s too when she was a baby, and it just seems like they should have been in it a bit more especially as Emily is meeting and finding out about her family and Chevy is her cousin. Although if the thunder road series follows a similar pattern to the breaking the rules series I think we will see more of them in the future – hopefully.

There are a few things that bugged me a bit though:

Firstly Jeff’s attitude to Emily being in danger from the Riot. He tells her that he thinks she’s not in danger and that everyone else is inventing a danger that isn’t there, he pretty much calls them delusional, and I could understand his stand point that the Motorcycle Club isn’t dangerous if he didn’t know that Eli had served time for attempted murder. It’s unclear if Jeff knows who or why, and I have to assume he doesn’t (because if he did then his words practically make him insane), but still.

 Secondly at the end it’s mentioned that the Riot agreed to leave Emily alone, when it was pointed out that she lived in a world that included restraining orders. Why was that never thought of before she turned 17, restraining orders were always there, if they were that worried about her safety surely that would have been thought of earlier?

Like the other Kate McGarry books I’ve read this is book is strongly about Identity and family and working out where you stand, and as always about not judging someone from there outward appearance or in this case from what you hear from other people.

Despite it being uncomfortably close to home for me I did enjoy reading Nowhere But Here – If I didn’t I would have put it down. And there is absolutely no question of whether I will read Walk the Edge, the next in the series which focuses on Razor.